Book of Mormon Trivia

[Vort]

Originally Posted by Mahone

The kings?

Bingo. And since we don't know who the king following Nephi was (Jacob says only "a man"), the best answer is probably "a man other than Jacob". Well, Mahone's and Pam's are probably the best answer, but you know what I mean.

[stickybuzz]

Originally Posted by Vort

Bingo. And since we don't know who the king following Nephi was (Jacob says only "a man"), the best answer is probably "a man other than Jacob". Well, Mahone's and Pam's are probably the best answer, but you know what I mean.

Reference?

[pam]

Jacob 1:9

9 Now Nephi began to be old, and he saw that he must soon die; wherefore, he annointed a man to be a king and a ruler over his people now, according to the reigns of the kings.

Jacob never mentions who that king is. As Vort stated: It only says "a man."

[stickybuzz]

Originally Posted by pam

Jacob 1:9

9 Now Nephi began to be old, and he saw that he must soon die; wherefore, he annointed a man to be a king and a ruler over his people now, according to the reigns of the kings.

Jacob never mentions who that king is. As Vort stated: It only says "a man."

Yes, but it ALSO doesn't say that Nephi gave the large plates to him. So where is that coming from?

[pam]

Everything I have read and researched in the last couple of hours says the large plates were passed from kings to kings. Since Nephi annointed another to be king because he was dying..I am assuming that is who he passed the large plates on to.

[stickybuzz]

Originally Posted by pam

Everything I have read and researched in the last couple of hours says the large plates were passed from kings to kings. Since Nephi annointed another to be king because he was dying..I am assuming that is who he passed the large plates on to.

I'm assuming that Jacob got them because he had the small plates, and I'm not aware of any time when the Large plates were watched by one person while the Small plates were watched by a second person.

Now, even if I'm wrong about that, that still doesn't mean for sure that Nephi gave the second king the record. If it doesn't state that anywhere then I think the answer has to be "we don't know", unless the question is rephrased to something like "who did Nephi most likely give the large plates to".

[pam]

Nephi succeeded his father, Lehi, as keeper of that record, which became known as the large plates of Nephi.

Nephi wrote that “upon [these] plates should be engraven an account of the reign of the kings, and the wars and contentions of my people.” (1 Ne. 9:4; italics added.)

Later, when they grew to be a numerous people, this account was kept by the kings

Taken from a talk found here

As it never mentions that Jacob was who Nephi annointed as king...you may be right in that we don't know. But I take the account of Jacob that it was not him that Nephi annointed.

Also taken from the same talk:

But it was not the most valuable record, for Nephi was commanded to keep yet another account—not a secular account this time, but a record of the ministry. This record, the small plates of Nephi, was kept by the prophets rather than by the kings.

[Vort]

Originally Posted by stickybuzz

Reference?

Jacob 1:1-3
...Nephi gave me, Jacob, a commandment concerning the small plates, upon which these things are engraven. And he gave me, Jacob, a commandment that I should write upon these plates a few of the things which I considered to be most precious; that I should not touch, save it were lightly, concerning the history of this people which are called the people of Nephi. For he said that the history of his people should be engraven upon his other plates [that is, upon the large plates of Nephi], and that I should preserve these plates [that is, the small plates of Nephi] and hand them down unto my seed, from generation to generation.

Note that Jacob explicitly mentions being given charge of the small plates, but does not mention being given charge of the large plates -- despite talking about those plates. Clearly, Jacob was given the small plates, but it appears he was not given the large plates. Who was?

Many generations later, a descendant of Jacob who received the plates (Amaleki) wrote:

Omni 25
And it came to pass that I began to be old; and, having no seed, and knowing king Benjamin to be a just man before the Lord, wherefore, I shall deliver up these plates unto him...

He has no seed, and apparently no surviving brother or other male relatives, so he cannot continue to fulfill Nephi's commandment to Jacob to keep the small plates. So he gives them to -- the prophet? No. He gives them to the king, because he knows him to be "a just man before the Lord". But why the king instead of some ecclesiastical authority? Two possibilities spring to mind:

1. There was no regularly constituted ecclesiastical authority; or, equivalently, the king functioned as the leader of the Church.
2. The king had the other records (large plates of Nephi), so he was the logical choice.

That #2 is the case is quickly established, as for example in Words of Mormon 10:

Wherefore, it came to pass that after Amaleki had delivered up these plates into the hands of king Benjamin, he took them and put them with the other plates, which contained records which had been handed down by the kings, from generation to generation until the days of king Benjamin.

Anyway, that's my take on the matter.

[stickybuzz]

Yeah, I'm stickin with "we don't know"

But come to think of it, I need to check to see if I've got a question about this in my app. I might have put the wrong answer in!

[pam]

Also according to the Church's Book of Mormon Student manual:

Before his death, Nephi gave Jacob the responsibility of taking care of the small plates. Nephi also instructed Jacob to write “a few of the things which [Jacob] considered to be most precious”

No mention that Jacob was also given the large plates.